The actor plays a man who goes on a killing spree to avenge the death of his son murdered by drug dealers, and Neeson recalled a similar experience from his past.

“God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” Neeson began before recounting how, many years ago, he returned from abroad to find that a woman close to him had been raped.

"I'm not racist. This was nearly 40 years ago."

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” he said. “But my immediate reaction was … I asked, did she know who it was? No. What color were they? She said it was a black person.”

“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that – and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [gesturing air quotes with his fingers] ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could … kill him. It took me a week, maybe a week-and-a-half, to go through that. She would say, ‘Where are you going?’ and I would say, ‘I’m just going out for a walk.’ ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘No, no, nothing’s wrong.’”

Liam Neeson has revealed that years ago he contemplated carrying out a racist revenge attack after someone close to him was raped.

The “Taken” star reportedly trembled while making the weighty admission and admitted in the interview that he had never told anyone.

“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” said Neeson. “And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.”

The Northern Ireland-born actor also revealed that the “awful” experience taught him a lesson.

“It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the [expletive] are you doing?’”

Since the interview was published on Monday, Neeson has come under fire, with social media divided over his comments.

While some have branded the actor a racist, others came to his defense, pointing out that he never spoke of being proud about the experience.

Really odd seeing people (overwhelmingly) defend Liam Neeson’s racism. Same ppl scream about Tommy R being racist but can’t see the overt racism in a man wanting to kill any black man bc someone he knew was raped by a black man???

Meanwhile, Neeson defended himself following the backlash in a Tuesday appearance on "Good Morning America."

"I'm not racist," Neeson said. "This was nearly 40 years ago."

Neeson added that he would have had the same reaction if his female friend had said the man was white.

So No-one out there has ever been so angry or grieving they have acted out of character? #LiamNeeson was speaking honestly and is being slated for it. So much for freedom of speech! Yes, in your lifetime you will hear things you don’t like, that’s life!

"If she had said an Irish, or a Scot, or a Brit or a Lithuanian I know I would have felt the same effect," he said. "I was trying to show honor, stand up for my dear friend in this terrible, medieval fashion."